HPV Immunizations Benefit Most Everyone

An analysis published today in the peer-reviewed Annals of Internal Medicine showed an increasingly positive impact of Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations for women and men.

HPV vaccination was associated with an 85% to 90% reduction in four types of cervical HPV infections in sexually active women.

And the vaccine effectiveness was about 51% from 2013 to 2016 for males.

Furthermore, these cancer-preventing benefits are extended to 'herd' protection.

For unvaccinated women in the study, HPV vaccinations produced a 74% impact against quadrivalent HPV vaccine-type prevalent infection, possibly because they benefited from 'herd effects or indirect protection.'

These findings are good news since HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States.

However, these researchers issued a caution in a related editorial.

"As herd protection increases and prevalence among unvaccinated person decreases, vaccine effectiveness might be difficult to estimate."

"We do not believe these findings raise concerns about waning immunity; multiple studies show long-lasting protection after HPV vaccination."

While these positive results are based on the earlier HPV vaccine, the extended version (Gardasil 9) vaccine targets an additional five strains of HPV.

An HPV infection is associated with six cancer types: cervical squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma, as well as oropharyngeal, anal, vulvar, vaginal, and penile squamous cell carcinoma, says the U.S. CDC.

Most clinics and pharmacies in the U.S. offer HPV vaccination services.

Notes: This study and editorial were edited for clarity and manually curated for mobile readers.

And the Primary Funding Source for this study was the CDC.